Local wildlife

But really... here y'go...

Coming up the drive last night, I saw two bunnies - they seem to be thick this Spring - and a skunk by the shed. Hope she was just passing through, not looking to settle in!

We have a bird sanctuary nearby that fosters eagles, so we see Bald and other Eagles regularly, along with the native Blue Herons, egrets, various owl, redtail hawk, and crow of course. Oh, and we seem to have a new visitor, a big ol' pileated woodpecker. And those are just the big birds. Cardinals, Blue and other Jays, and Mockingbirds abound. Occasionally, some of the neighbor's hummingbirds buzz us. The State Bird, scissortails, don't hang around the living acreage, but there's always some on the wires where the road runs by the pasture. Et muchos cetera.

Coyote packs surround us. Occasional fox, more numerous in recent years. Deer pack often in the front yard, teasing the dog. Bunny groundhog skunk squirrel mole mice. Beavers don't come around the farm, but they're down by the river.

Mostly garden snakes around the house (sometimes in the house, to our cats' delight). But we have had 5' brown snakes, and the usual abundance of Oklahoma poisonous snakes are out there in the tall grass and ponds: just rattler, mostly, but others more aggressive.

Red wasp, yellowjacket, mud-daubers, wood bees, angry bees, sweat bees, hornets (mercifully rare), blue flies, green flies, big biting black flies, many butterflies - Zebra, Monarch, more - lunar moths are really really cool, but really really rare. June bugs, Mayflies, cool green beetles. Ladybugs! Not nearly ever enough lightning bugs! Mosqitoes, giant and tiny. Ants on the coffee counter in the kitchen (current battle). Stink bugs. Various cucarachas, of course.

Oh, yes let's not forget all our arachnid buddies, Garden spiders and wolf spiders - spooky but friendly. Tarantula we don't seem to have, nor scorpions like we sometimes see at the office. But we have lots of The Devilspawn: Ticks. Brown Recluse, Black Widow, those other ones with big hideous bulbous backs.

Nature is not your friend. Gaia is really Shiva; she wants to kill you.